Guest Speakers

The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism

Phil Gramm

161 Mendoza College of Business, Sep. 11, 2025, at 5 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Featuring Phil Gramm, Former U.S. Senator from Texas and one of America’s premier public policy advocates.

In The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism, Phil Gramm, one of America’s premier public policy advocates, and noted economist Donald J. Boudreaux look at the seven events and issues in American history that define, for most Americans, the government’s role and how the 21st-century world works.

Setting up each topic with a “just the facts” approach that defies partisanship, Gramm and Boudreaux provide a compelling and highly readable powerful reassessment that will challenge open-minded readers to rethink the conventional wisdom and the policies that spring from it.

Attendees will receive a free copy of Senator Gramm’s latest book, The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism. Limited copies available.

Lecture is free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by the Mendoza College of Business and the Department of Economics, with support from the Combs Family Lecture Series.

Guest Lecture: Inside the Bernie Madoff Fraud

Jordan Auditorium, Sep. 25, 2025, at 5 p.m. Free and open to all students.

White collar crime, while non-violent in nature, is not victimless. It destroys
companies, families and people. Life savings can be wiped out, billions lost by
investors and trust in public institutions eroded. The largest white-collar crime
in US history was the Bernie Madoff “Ponzi” scheme fraud — $65 billion. How
did this happened?
Hear directly from Special Agent Patrick Duffy, one of the lead agents on the
case, who will take you “Inside the Bernie Madoff Fraud” by providing personal
insights and perspectives about what CNBC termed the “Scam of the Century”.

Patrick J. Duffy, FBI Special Agent

Mr. Duffy is a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Philadelphia Division. SA
Duffy is currently assigned to a White-Collar Crime Squad that specializes in Corporate and
Securities Fraud, where his principal duties include the investigation of violations of federal
securities laws. SA Duffy’s cases include investigations of Insider Trading, Market Manipulations, and Ponzi schemes, including the Bernie Madoff fraud case.
SA Duffy received a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from LaSalle University in 2002. From 2002 to 2008, SA Duffy worked within the audit practice of KPMG, LLP Philadelphia where he worked on both public and private client engagements.

Lecture is free and open to all students. Co-sponsored by the Mendoza College of Business and the Department of Accountancy.

Geoffrey Friesen, Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Nebraska

“Finance and the Common Good”

DeBart 101, Oct. 3, 2024, at 4 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Friesen’s research interests include behavioral finance, investments and business ethics.  Some of his early research focused on the role of human cognition in decision making, measuring how actual decisions depart from “rational” behavior.  More recently his research has examined the philosophical assumptions embedded in definitions of “rational financial behavior,” and whether those assumptions are consistent with the Christian understanding of the human person.

Sponsored by the Business Ethics and Society Program.

Andrew Yuengert, Professor of Economics and the Blanche Seaver Chair of Social Science at Pepperdine University

“Being Virtuous and Practical: The Laity in Catholic Social Teaching”

107 Carey Auditorium Hesburgh Library, Oct. 26, 2023 at 4 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Yuengert’s research crosses the boundaries between economics, moral philosophy, and Catholic theology. His latest book is Catholic Social Teaching in Practice: Exploring Practical Wisdom and the Virtues Tradition (Cambridge, 2023). Previous books include The Boundaries of Technique (2004) and Approximating Prudence (2012). He has been a Fellow at the James Madison Program at Princeton University, and a Professor at the Catholic University of America. He current co-directs a monthly international online seminar on Economics and Catholic Social Thought for the Catholic Research Economist Discussion Organization (CREDO) and the Lumen Christi Institute. He holds a PhD in Economics from Yale University.

Sponsored by the Notre Dame Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership and the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business.

Terrence Keeley, CEO and chief investment officer of 1PointSix and former senior BlackRock executive

“The Wisdom of Shareholder Welfare”

Carey Auditorium, Nov. 3, 2022 at 4 p.m. Free and open to the public. sponsored by the Notre Dame Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership and the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business.

The event also will feature Phil Gramm, former U.S. Senator (R-Texas), and the Rev. Oliver Williams, C.S.C., associate professor of management at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, serving as respondents.

Keeley currently advises institutions and high net worth individuals on how to generate greater impact and returns from their investment portfolios. At BlackRock, he oversaw relationships with official institutions and large endowments around the world.

Prior to joining BlackRock, he founded and served as the senior managing principal of Sovereign Trends, LLC. From 1987-2010, he was a senior managing director at UBS Investment Bank, overseeing the firm’s transactional and advisory relations with central banks, sovereign wealth funds, ministries of finance, public pension funds and multilateral organizations, including the IMF and World Bank.

November 20, 2019
SPECIAL SPEAKER: Carlos Gutierrez
Chair, Albright Stonebridge Group
Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Former President & CEO, Kellogg Company

“A Discussion with Carlos Gutierrez”
5:30pm, November 20
Jordan Auditorium, Mendoza College of Business

As part of International Education Week
Cosponsored by Notre Dame International and the Mendoza College of Business

Lecture is free and open to the public.

Carlos Gutierrez is Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group. Secretary Gutierrez served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 2005 to 2009 under President George W. Bush, where he worked with foreign government and business leaders to advance economic relationships, enhance trade, and promote U.S. exports. Secretary Gutierrez also played a key role in the passage of landmark free trade agreements that remove trade barriers, expand export opportunities, and boost global investment.

Previously, Secretary Gutierrez spent nearly thirty years with Kellogg Company, a global manufacturer and marketer of well-known food brands. After assignments in Latin America, Canada, Asia, and the United States, he became President and Chief Executive Officer of Kellogg in 1999 − the youngest CEO in the company’s hundred year history. In April 2000, he was named Chairman of the Board of Kellogg Company.

SPECIAL SPEAKER: Jessica Rose
CFO and Director of Employee Ownership at the Democracy Collaborative

Frank Cahill Lecture in Business Ethics: Jessica Rose
4:00p.m., Mar. 20
Jordan Auditorium Mendoza College of Business

Jessica is a national employee ownership business strategist who focuses on the unique role of capital to drive scale. She advises cities, grant-makers, and investors on cutting-edge models to expand economic opportunity through employee ownership and is deeply involved in the research and development of innovative, on-the ground employee-owned business development and financing models.

Jessica has a background as an entrepreneur and investment analyst, holds an MBA from the University of Notre Dame, and is a Certified ESOP Fiduciary, and a Research Fellow with Rutgers University’s Institute for Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing for research into the role of capital in scaling employee ownership. She has been recognized with the 2018 Mendoza College of Business Alumni award for her work to promote socially responsible business models.

SPECIAL SPEAKER: BILL KURTIS
Co-Host of NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!”
Renowned Journalist, Author and Documentary Maker 

“Bill Kurtis: A Life’s Journey”
1 – 2 p.m., Feb. 8
Jordan Auditorium
Mendoza College of Business

Event is free to attend. Seating is limited!

Kurtis’ 40+ year career includes groundbreaking reporting on the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam.  He created the award-winning A&E shows Investigative Reports, Cold Case Files and American Justice, and continues to produce cable programs such as CNBC’s American Greed.

Sponsored by the Mendoza College of Business

Citizenship in a Global Age

Horst Koehler
former President of the Federal Republic of Germany
Former Managing Director of the IMF
Personal Envoy of the United Nations
Secretary-General for Western Sahara

September 6, 2017
5:30pm
Mendoza College of Business, Jordan Auditorium

Sponsored by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies and the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study with additional support from the College of Arts and Letters, the Keough School of Global Affairs, the Mendoza College of Business, and Notre Dame Research​.

2017 Frank Cahill Lecture in Business Ethics and the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. Award

April 25, 2017
4:00pm
Mendoza College of Business, Jordan Auditorium

The Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business is hosting the 2017 Frank Cahill Lecture in Business Ethics and the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. Award.

The Cahill Lecture, which will be a panel discussion on ethical issues faced by recent business school graduates, will be followed by the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. Award. Cummins, Inc. (acceptance by Tom Linebarger, Chairman and CEO of Cummins, Inc.) will be honored with the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. Award.

Lecture is free and open to the public.

Leadership Principles: How to be Successful Every Day

Major General Thomas C. Seamands
Commanding General, U.S. Army Human Resources Command

April 19, 2017
6:15pm – 7:30pm
Mendoza College of Business, Jordan Auditorium

Major General Seamands assumed his current assignment as the Commanding General of U.S. Army Human Resources Command in June 2015. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management from the University of Dayton and was commissioned through the ROTC program into the Adjutant General’s Corps. He is a graduate of the AG Officer Basic Course, AG Officer Advanced Course, and the Army Command and General Staff College. He attained a Master of Science Degree in Management from Webster University, was the Army’s Leadership and Management Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and a Fellow at MIT’s Seminar XXI: Foreign Politics, International Relations and the National Interest.

Lecture is free and open to the public.

“Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank
ABC TV show “Shark Tank” and chairman of O’Shares Investments”

Kevin O’Leary of the ABC TV show “Shark Tank” will make a return appearance to the University of Notre Dame to speak at Mendoza College of Business. O’Leary will discuss what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur, and also judge business case pitches by three teams of Notre Dame student entrepreneurs. January 30, 2017
5pm – 6:15pm
Mendoza College of Business, Jordan Auditorium

Sponsored by the Mendoza College of Business, The Gigot Center for Entrepreneurship and
The Eugene Clark Distinguished Lecture Series

2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
The American presidency and the international economy

Gerard Baker, Editor in Chief, The Wall Street Journal 

March 14, 2016
5 p.m. 
Mendoza College of Business Jordan Auditorium

What impact will the U.S. elections have on the world? Hear Gerry Baker discuss his perspective on issues ranging from politics to the global marketplace.

Baker is a veteran journalist who covered financial and economic issues for the BBC, Financial Times and The Times of London. He also served as moderator for the Republican Primary Debate hosted by Fox Business Network.

Prior to his appointment as Editor in Chief, Mr. Baker served as Deputy Editor in Chief of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, with responsibilities across the full spectrum of the company’s journalism, including the print and digital editions of the Journal as well as Newswires.

Before joining the Journal, Mr. Baker was the U.S. Editor and an Assistant Editor of The Times of London, where he wrote news and commentary for Britain’s longest continuously published newspaper and oversaw U.S. coverage for the paper and online editions.

From 1994 to 2004, Mr. Baker worked for the Financial Times, first as Tokyo Correspondent, where he wrote about the country’s financial crisis, and then, from 1998 to 2002, as Washington Bureau Chief, where he led a team of 10 correspondents and provided extensive reporting and analysis of the Federal Reserve. From 2002 to 2004, he was the FT’s Chief U.S. Commentator and an Associate Editor.

Before joining the FT, Mr. Baker worked for the BBC from 1988 to 1994, as a producer, then as U.S. producer, and finally as Economics Correspondent for TV and radio.

In addition to the Journal, the FT, The Times and the BBC, Mr. Baker’s work has appeared in many other publications, and he has been a frequent television and radio contributor in the UK, the U.S. and around the world.

Mr. Baker started his working life in the financial sector, first as an analyst at the Bank of England, then as an economist at Lloyds Bank in the City of London.

He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, where he graduated in 1983 with a First Class Honours Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

2016 Frank Cahill Lecture in Business Ethics and the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. Award

March 29, 2016
4-5:30 p.m. 
Jordan Auditorium, Mendoza College of Business

The Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business is hosting the 2016 Frank Cahill Lecture in Business Ethics and the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. Award.

The Cahill Lecture, which will be a panel discussion on ethical issues faced by recent business school graduates, will be followed by the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. Award. ECOLAB INC., (acceptance by Douglas Baker, Chairman and CEO of ECOLAB INC.) will be honored with the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. Award.

“Top Trends in Marketing and Selling to Women”

April 14, 2016 by Bridget Brennan, CEO, Female Factor and Author, Why She Buys

4pm – 5pm
Mendoza College of Business, Room 161

As society shifts, so does the practice of marketing and selling to women. Attendees will gain a broader perspective on how insights related to women’s consumer behavior can inform smarter decision-making for companies.

Refreshments Provided

Sponsored by GeNDer Studies Program
Co-Sponsored by Boehnen Fund for Excellence, Eugene B. Clark Distinguished Lecture Series, Mendoza College of Business

Experts invited by departments and centers in the Mendoza College of Business to speak to students, faculty and the public on a broad range of topics.

Bridget Brennan is the world’s leading expert on marketing and selling to women. She is the CEO of strategic consultancy, Female Factor and the Author of Why She Buys. Brennan is a contributing writer for Forbes on women consumers, and speaks globally on the subject. She was recently named a “Woman to Watch in Retail Disruption” for 2016 by Remodista, and is currently at work on her second book. Brennan is based in Chicago, the headquarters of Female Factor.